MADISON, Wis. - As both Wisconsin and Marquette basketball teams have risen to national prominence over the past decade, the two schools, separated by just over an hour stretch of interstate 94, have had some impressive editions to its rivalry.

Alando Tucker made his first start of the season after recovering from his broken foot and paced the Badgers with a 17-point performance. Still, that performance, along with a 15-point effort from Badger great Devin Harris was barely enough for the five-point win over upset-minded Marquette.

Golden Eagles junior Travis Diener hit four-three-pointers in the game and helped his team draw even with the powerful Badgers at the break. In fact, it was not until Tucker's bucket with 45 seconds left that gave the Badgers a three-point edge, one Marquette was unable to overcome, although it had a chance. Sophomore Steve Novak shorted a three-point attempt with less than 15 seconds to play that would have tied the game. Instead, Tucker hauled in the rebound and made one free throw to seal the Badger win.

Overall, UW won the game on only 39 percent shooting, including a dismal 1-for-12 performance from distance.

Despite battling a nagging ankle injury, Diener scored 29 points against a Badger squad that was without the full services of Mike Wilkinson. The UW senior was bothered by a lingering lower leg injury and was limited to just two points in 23 minutes of play. At one point, Diener, who scored 10 of Marquette's first 12 points, had 21 points to the Badgers 23. After starting the second half with back-to-back three's, the senior had pushed Marquette's lead to 40-23. The Badgers tried to mount a monstrous comeback, and had actually cut the lead to six with five minutes to play, but was unable to get over the top.

But really, the story of the game was centered on the glass. The Golden Eagles out-rebounded UW by an astounding 44-28 margin and never gave UW an opportunity for second chance points as it limited the Badgers to only four offensive rebounds.

UW head coach Bo Ryan notched his 100th victory at Wisconsin and the Badgers coasted to an easy 14-point win. After jumping out to an early 21-11 lead, the Badgers got hot, going on a 23-10 run to finish the half and hold a 44-21 lead at the break.

Even though Tucker was held to just eight points on 2-for-8 shooting and battled foul trouble throughout, the Badgers were never really tested inside the friendly confines of the Kohl Center. Guard Kammron Taylor had a game high 18 points and Ray Nixon chipped in 15 of his own.

For Marquette, Steve Novak paced the scoring with 14 points and was followed by Dominic James' 10-point game. The win was the Badgers 24th straight win at home and boosted its all-time series lead to 61-51.

In his fifth game against bitter rival Marquette, Tucker saved his best performance for last. The veteran led all scorers with 28 points, including some key plays down the stretch to help his team fend off a determined Golden Eagles squad.

With the Badgers leading by 10 with just under four minutes to play, Tucker, as well as the rest of his teammates, saw Marquette mount a furious comeback that cut the Badger lead down to four with under 90 seconds to play. However, the eventual senior player of the year converted a lay-up after a nifty baseline move to give UW a six-point edge and eventual four-point win.

Taylor chipped in 13 points and sophomore Marcus Landry added 11 of his own. Even though the Badgers committed a season high 22 turnovers and James and Jerel McNeal scored 19 and 16 points respectively, the Badgers left Milwaukee with a big, and more importantly, satisfying win.

The Badgers, as well as the Kohl Center faithful, saw an opposing team leave the floor victorious for the first time in 28 chances after Marquette upset the Badgers by five in early December. James scored a game high 20 points as the Golden Eagles, although going with a smaller, guard-oriented line up, out-rebounded the much bigger Badgers 41-34.

After trading buckets for the majority of the first half, Marquette went into the visiting locker room with a slim two-point lead. However, it was the Badgers that came out with the hot hand as it went on a quick 9-3 run to start the second half and jump out to a 50-46 lead. At that time, Hughes and James got into a little scuffle after a physical play and the momentum swung into Marquette's favor following the intense confrontation.

McNeal added 14 points to compliment James and Dwight Burke's 12 points and Lazar Hayward's 11 points rounded out Marquette's double-digit scorers. It was the Golden Eagles first win in Madison since 1997 and only its third win in the schools previous 10 meetings.